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Volume!"  OCTOBER,  1928  Number  4 

THE 

NEW  ENGLAND 
QUARTERLY 

An  Historical  Review  of  New  England 
Life  and  Letters 

CONTENTS 

Bryant  at  Williams  Tremaine  McDowell  443 

Puritan  Names  Daniel  K.  Dodge  467 

Joel  Shepard,  Part  II  Ed.  by  J.  A.  Spear  476 

Michael  Wigglesworth  F.  0.  Matthiessen  491 

Count  Rumford  Richard  W.  Hale  505 

Phlppius  Maximus  Viola  F.  Barnes  532 

Memoranda  and  Documents 
Letters  of  a  Blue  Bluejacket 

Ed.  by  A.  M.  Schlesinger     554 

Book  Reviews  (See  next  page) 

Bibliography    E.  H.  Dewey,  A.  B.  Forbes,  and 

C.  K.  Shipton     604 

Price  $1.25  a  copy,  $5.00  a  year 
THE  WILLIAMS  &  WILKINS  COMPANY 

BALTIMORE 

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"Entered  as  second  class  matter  January  12, 1928,  at  the  postomce  at  Baltimore,  Md.j 
under  the  Act  of  March  3, 1879." 


EDITORS 

Samuel  Eliot  Morison  Kenneth  Ballard  Murdoch: 

Arthur  M.  Schlesinger        Stanley  T.  Williams 
Lawrence  Shaw  Mayo,  Managing  Editor 
Stewart  Mitchell,  Secretary 

ADVISORY  BOARD  OF  EDITORS 

Charles  M.  Andrews  Marcus  Wilson  Jernegan 

Verner  W.  Crane  Horace  Kidger 

William  Wallace  Fenn  Fiske  Kimball 

Norman  Foerster  Edwin  Doak  Mead 

Edwin  Francis  Gay  Louise  Pound 

Evarts  Boutell  Greene  Edward  Wyllys  Taylor 

George  F.  Whjcher 


CONTENTS  (continued) 

REVIEWS 

The  Petty  Papers,  ed.  by  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne 

Wilbur  C.  Abbott 
Selected  Poems  of  Amy  Lowell,  ed.  by  John  Livingston 

Lowes  Edward  H.  Dewey 

Harvard  College  Records,  Publications  of  The  Colonial 

Society  Samuel  K.  Wilson 

Fremont,  by  Allan  Nevins  Frederick  Merk 

American  Criticism,  by  Norman  Foerster    Van  Wyck  Brooks 
The  Commonwealth  History  of  Massachusetts,  ed.  by 

Albert  Bushnell  Hart  Samuel  E.  M orison 

The    Turning    Point    of    the    Revolution,    by  Hoffman 

Nickerson  Thomas  G.  Frothingham 

The  New  England  Clergy  and  the  American  Revolution, 

by  Alice  M.  Baldwin  Samuel  E.  M orison 

America  and  French  Culture,  by  H.  M.  Jones 

Kenneth  B.  Murdoch 
Minstrelsy  of  Maine,  Collected  by  F.  H.  Eckstorm  and 

M.  W.  Smyth  Arthur  K.  Davis,  Jr. 

New  England  Captives  Carried  to  Canada,  by  Emma  L. 

Coleman  Lawrence  S.  Mayo 

Short  Notices 


Subscriptions  should  be  sent  to  the  publishers,  The  Williams 
&  Wilkins  Company.  Mt.  Royal  and  Guilford  Avenues,  Balti- 
more, Md.  The  Editors  regret  that  they  can  not  accept  ex- 
changes in  place  of  subscriptions. 

Contributions  to  the  QUARTERLY  and  books  for  review 
may  be  sent  to  the  Managing  Editor,  Lawrence  S.  Mayo,  24 
University  Hall,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Copyright  1928  by  The  Williams  &  Wilkins  Company 


PHIPPIUS  MAXIMUS  553 

tans  to  his  will,  and  use  kings  for  his  purpose,  as  a 
bluff,  simple  seaman  with  a  touch  of  piety.  With 
amazing  lack  of  humor  he  clothed  the  sailor's  rough 
neck  in  imperial  purple,  with  a  dog-Latin  title  of 
"Phippius  Maximus."  We  may  thank  Mather,  as 
doubtless  did  the  reading  public  of  his  day,  for  a 
lively  account  in  racy  Saxon  English  of  Phips's 
treasure-hunt,  and  the  shipwreck  on  Anticosti;  but 
we  have  had  to  dig  deep  in  dusty  archives  to  dis- 
cover the  very  human,  likeable,  and  essentially 
modern  adventurer  that  was  William  Phips. 


00 
o 


MEMORANDA  AND  DOCUMENTS 

A  BLUE  BLUEJACKET'S  LETTERS  HOME,  1863-1864 

Edited  by  ARTHUR  M.  SCHLESINGER 

These  letters  of  a  Civil  War  veteran  differ  from  others  that 
have  attained  the  dignity  of  print.  They  add  nothing  to  our 
knowledge  of  large  events  or  great  personalities  or  of  the  grand 
strategy  of  the  conflict.  Yet  they  possess  a  very  special,  indeed 
almost  unique,  interest  for  a  generation  which  has  come  to  think 
of  the  common  soldiers  and  sailors  in  the  great  struggle  merely  as 
integers  in  the  statistical  summaries  which  historians  give  of  the 
size  of  the  fighting  forces.  If  the  unsung  author  of  these  letters 
fails  to  present  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  war,  he  amply  makes 
amends  by  giving  us  something  that  is  of  greater  human  interest 
— an  ant's-eye  view. 

The  tale  unfolded  by  these  letters  is  that  of  a  lad  from  the 
rural  parts  of  Maine  who,  after  fighting  in  two  battles,  acquired  a 
hearty  distaste  for  the  army  and  straightway  quit  the  service 
without  further  ado  or  formality.  Undisciplined  and  ignorant 
as  he  was,  the  war  had  somehow  or  other  got  a  hold  on  his 
emotions  and,  though  he  could  never  quite  understand  why, 
he  signed  up,  under  an  assumed  name,  as  fireman  on  board  the 
U.  S.  S.  Iron  Age  in  August,  1863.  "I  pitty  the  fellow  that  goes 
for  a  soger,"  he  writes  in  the  first  letter  of  the  group,  adding  in 
his  next,  "I  like  a  bluddy  fool  went  and  shipped"  in  the  navy. 

His  correspondence  tells  of  his  various  war  experiences, 
ranging  from  the  hazards  of  the  blockading  service  to  pitched 
battles  with  his  fellow  seamen.  He  keeps  a  nostalgic  eye  on 
affairs  in  his  little  Maine  village.  "I  suppose  you  have  a  good 
time  in  the  woods,"  he  writes.  "I  expect  you  go  out  hunting 
once  in  a  while  dont  you."  He  believes  "things  will  look  odd" 
on  his  return,  with  a  new  stable  and  all,  and  the  thought  of  a 
meal  at  home  reminds  him  that  he  never  gets  enough  to  eat  on 
shipboard — "if  I  get  much  thinner  it  will  take  two  of  us  to  make 

554 


MEMORANDA  AND  DOCUMENTS  555 

one  shader."  He  expresses  warm  approval  of  his  brother  Jim's 
aspiration  to  evade  the  draft.  "Yet,"  he  could  write,  "I  am 
an  altred  boy  from  what  I  was  once."  As  his  term  of  service 
approaches  a  close,  his  old  impatience  begins  to  irk  him  once 
more.  "I  long  to  be  my  own  master  again  to  go  whare  I  like 
and  do  as  I  like  .  .  .  .  if  I  had  my  way  I  would  cut  every 
nigers  throt  in  the  united  states;"  and  in  his  concluding  letter, 
with  forty-eight  days  yet  to  serve,  he  announces,  "I  am  going 
on  a  regular  tare  when  my  time  is  up." 

The  vessel  on  which  he  saw  most  service  was  the  U.  S.  S. 
Nansemor.d,  a  side-wheel  wooden  steamer  of  340  tons'  burden, 
formerly  the  /.  F.  Freeborn,  which  the  government  had  pur- 
chased from  a  New  York  owner  on  August  18,  1863. l  She  was 
a  small,  fast,  low-pressure  craft  well  suited  for  duty  in  the  shal- 
low North  Carolina  inlets  where  some  of  the  most  effective 
blockade  running  of  the  Confederacy  was  being  done.  Of  her 
usefulness  Captain  B.  F.  Sands  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Dacotah  declared 
in  a  report  of  October  21,  1863,  to  Acting  Rear  Admiral  S.  P. 
Lee,  commanding  the  North  Atlantic  Blockading  Squadron: 
"I  cannot  say  too  much  in  favor  of  such  vessels  as  the  Nanse- 
mond  and  Niphon,  with  their  energetic  commanding  officers, 
for  blockading  purposes.  Give  us  a  few  such  and  we  will  put 
a  stop  to  this  nefarious  British  trade  and  make  Wilmington  a 
closed  port."2  Her  commander  was  Lieutenant  R.  H.  Lamson, 
formerly  of  the  Minnesota. 

Permission  to  print  these  letters  could  be  secured  only  on 
condition  that  the  writer's  name  and  all  marks  of  identification 
be  removed.  Fortunately  the  letters  bear  their  own  credentials 
of  authenticity,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  social  history  little  is 
lost  by  their  anonymity.  The  spelling  and  punctuation  of  the 
letters  remain  as  in  the  originaL 

1863 
Baltimore  November  the  28th 
Dear  Cousin  I  now  take  my  pen  in  hand  to  rite  you 
a  few  lines  to  let  you  no  that  I  am  well  and  in  good 

*  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Navies,  ser.  2,  i,  154. 
2  Ibid.,  ser.  1.  ix,  248. 


556     THE  NEW  ENGLAND  QUARTERLY 

helth  and  I  hope  these  few  lines  will  find  you  the 
same  I  am  now  in  baltimore  in  the  U  S  S  nance- 
mond  we  are  in  here  for  repairs  we  came  here 
the  22  of  nov  I  dont  now  how  long  we  shall  stay 

here  but  we  have  got  15  days  liberty  we  can  come 
abord  when  we  like  and  go  ashore  when  we  like  we 
are  all  having  a  good  tine  you  must  excuse  me 
for  not  riting  sooner  when  I  [went  away]  from 
your  house  I  went  to  boston  and  shiped  in  the  navy 
on  bord  the  steammer  Iron  age3  and  went  down  to 
wilininton  on  the  blockade  and  was  transferd  to  the 
nansemond  I  was  down  tere  about  3  monts 
the  nansmond  is  a  little  side  wheal  steamer  she 
was  a  new  york  tug  boat  once  she  is  the  fastest  one 
on  the  blockade  I  supose  you  have  seen  acounts 
of  her  in  the  papers  we  have  destroid  two  blockade 
runers4  and  captured  one  the  margret  &  jessey5  of 
corse  you  herd  about  it  so  you  see  we  have  some 
prise  money  coming  to  us  it  will  bee  devided 
between  us  and  the  key  stone  state  I  surpose         I 

3  The  U.  S.  S.  Iron  Age,  a  screw  steamer  of  424  tons'  displacement,  com- 
missioned at  Boston  on  June  25,  1863.    Ibid.,  ser.  2,  i,  109. 

4  These  were  the  outgoing  Confederate  steamer  Douro,  bound  for  Nassau 
"with  a  very  valuable  cargo,"  which  was  destroyed  on  the  night  of  October 
11,  1863,  and  the  Venus,  "said  to  be  the  best  blockade  runner  and  fastest 
in  the  trade,"  on  its  way  from  Nassau  to  Wilmington  with  a  cargo  of  lead, 
drugs,  drygoods,  bacon  and  coffee,  which  was  destroyed  in  the  early 
morning  of  October  21.     Ibid.,  ser.  1.  ix,  232-234,  248-250,  774. 

6  The  side-wheel  steamer  Margaret  and  Jessie  of  Charleston,  S.  C, 
bound  from  Nassau  to  Wilmington,  was  captured  on  November  5,  1863, 
after  a  chase  in  which  the  Nansemond,  Niphon,  Keystone  State,  Howqua 
and  Fulton  took  part,  the  last  being  an  army  transport  on  her  way  from 
New  Orleans  to  New  York.  The  N  ansemond' s  flag  was  the  first  to  be 
hoisted  on  the  prize,  and  the  commander  of  the  Keystone  State  as  the  senior 
officer  within  signal  distance  prepared  to  take  possession.  But  the  master 
of  the  Fulton  vigorously  asserted  his  claims,  placed  a  crew  on  board  and  pro- 
ceeded to  tow  her  to  New  York.  The  Margaret  and  Jessie  had  run  the 
blockade  fifteen  times.    Ibid.,  ser.  1,  ix,  262-268. 


MEMORANDA  AND  DOCUMENTS  557 

dont  no  how  much  thare  will  be  a  pece  the  draft 
[is  ]  scaring  peeple  here  I  surpose  ther  are  drafting 

down  there  now  I  hope  that  none  of  the  boys  will 
be  drafted  for  I  pitty  the  fellow  that  goes  for  a  soger 
I  expect  that  Jim  is  at  home  tell  him  if  he  is  to 
look  out  for  the  draft  I  suppose  that  Old  Cox 
would  like  to  make  30  dolars  on  me6  but  I  gues  he 
wont  this  year 

I  shiped  coal  passer  it  is  hard  work  but  I  gues 
that  I  can  stand  it  I  am  onley  shiped  for  one  year 
I  am  on  my  4  monts  now  I  have  shifted  my  name 
around  a  little  when  I  shiped  I  gave  my  name  a 
George  E  Arnold  that  is  all  rite  it  came  hard 
to  arncer  that  name  at  first  but  I  am  al  rite  now 
there  is  a  lot  of  our  crew  ben  taken  up  as  deserters  all 
redy  I  want  you  to  rite  and  tel  me  all  the  news 
tell  jim  if  he  is  at  home  tell  him  to  rite  you  need 
not  be  afraid  to  rite  onley  direct  your  letters  to 
George  E  arnold  and  it  will  be  all  rite  if  you  direct 
the  other  way  there  will  be  mischief  if  you  direct 
them  the  way  I  told  you  it  will  bee  al  rite  now 
rembeer  I  surpose  that  folks  say  that  that  George 
is  a  queere  fellow  let  them  talk  I  know  my 
biz  I  had  my  picter  taken  the  other  day  and  I 
guess  that  I  will  send  it  to  you  it  ant  a  very  good 
one  but  you  will  look  over  that  I  had  a  chew  of 
tobaco  in  my  mouth  as  usual  I  think  that  I  will 
nock  of  riting  soon  for  I  an  giting  tired  I  hope 
that  you  will  excuse  bad  riting  and  dirty  paper  give 
my  best  respects  to  al  the  folks  so  I  will  bid  you 
good  by   ...    . 

6  Under  an  order  of  September,  1863,  this  was  the  amount  of  money 
paid  to  recruiting  officers  for  each  deserter  they  arrested.  F.  A.  Shannon, 
The  Organization  and  Administration  of  the  Union  Army  (Cleveland,  1928), 
ii,  84. 


558     THE  NEW  ENGLAND  QUARTERLY 

Fortres.  Monroe.  Va.  December.  29th  1863 
Dear  Brother  I  now  take  my  pen  in  hand  to  rite  a 
few  lines  to  let  you  no  that  I  am  well  and  in  good 
helth  it  is  some  time  since  we  met  but  I  hope 
that  we  shal  meat  again  some  time  a  nother  I 
supose  that  you  no  whare  I  am  that  I  am  in  the 
navy  I  like  a  bluddy  fool  went  and  shipped  I 
could  not  let  well  enough  alone  so  I  went  and  shipped 
I  shipped  in  boston  on  bord  of  the  Iron  age  and  went 
down  to  wilimington  on  the  blockade  I  stayed  in 
her  a  spel  and  then  I  volentered  to  go  in  the  nanse- 
mond  whare  I  had  the  fun  of  destroing  two  vessels 
and  taking  another  and  then  we  went  to  baltimore  for 
repars  we   got    15    days   liberty  the[y]    got 

her  repaired  and  started  out  again  we  gut  as  fur 
as  cape  hatres  and  had  a  little  [trouble?]  and  had  to 
put  back  into  hamton  roads  and  [they]  shuved  us 
aboarb  of  the  old  store  ship  brandywine  [where] 
I  am  yet7  they  are  all  drafted  but  three  of  us  I 
expect  every  day  to  be  drafted  I  shant  be  sorrey 
when  it  comes  that  is  if  I  get  on  a  good  boat  when 
I  shiped  I  shiped  under  the  name  of  George  E  Arnold 
and  if  you  rite  direct  it  so  and  I  shall  get  it  i  wish 
that  I  was  with  you  working  in  the  woods  I  think 
it  would  be  much  better  than  going  to  sea  Hester 
told  me  that  you  had  cut  your  foot  i  am  sorry  for 
it  we  have  all  got  trials  and  tribulations  to  bear 
for  this  is  a  hard  world  you  no  at  eney  rate  you 
and  I  have  had  it  bout  as  hard  as  they  everage  but 
I  hope  that  we  shal  come  out  all  rite  yet  I  am  an 
altred   boy  from  what   I   was  once         I   have  ben 

7  The  U.  S.  S.  Brandywine  was  a  wooden  frigate  of  1708  tons'  burden, 
built  some  years  before  the  war  and  used  as  a  storeship  at  the  Norfolk 
Navy  Yard  during  the  war.  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate 
Navies,  ser.  2,  i,  47. 


MEMORANDA  AND  DOCUMENTS  559 

through  meny  a  danger  since  I  saw  you  and  expect  to 
go  through  meny  more  but  it  is  no  use  to  bid  the 
devel  good  morning  till  you  meat  him  I  surpose 
you  have  a  good  time  in  the  woods  I  expect  you 
go  out  hunting  once  in  a  while  dont  you 

I  had  a  letter  from 8  to  day         she  said  that 

ant  Eunice  was  very  sick  and  she  gave  me  your  adres 
so  I  thaught  I  would  set  down  and  rite  to  you  an  I 
hope  that  you  will  do  the  same  when  you  git  this  I 
expect  you  think  I  dun  rong  when  I  left  the  army  but 
I  dont  I  think  I  served  them  just  rite  I  was 
in  two  battles  and  came  near  dying  twice  and  they 
would  not  discharge  me  and  then  I  could  not  be 
contented  but  must  ship  in  the  navy  I  will  soon 
be  out  again  if  nothing  happens  which  hope  thare  will 
not  if  I  do  they  never  get  me  to  go  again  my 
time  is  out  next  august  I  have  come  acrost  an  old 
fellow  that  was  shipmates  with  uncel  jim  in  the  north- 
carliner  I  want  you  to  rite  and  til  me  all  about 
the  country  up  whare  you  are  tell  me  all  [about  ] 
your  years  cruse  in  the  Ino9  and  how  you  came  out 
about  the  prise  you  took  I  have  got  prise  money 
to  me  but  I  dont  no  as  I  will  ever  get  enny  or  not  I 
would  like  to  get  it  I  am  begining  to  think  that  it 
is  pretty  near  time  to  nock  off  so  I  will  bid  you  good 
by  for  this  time  rite  as  soon  as  you  get  this  but  beshure 
and  direct  it  to  George  E  Arnold         do  not  forget 

Beaufort         Feb  the  6th  1864 
Dear  Cousin         I  now  take  my  pen  in  hand  to  anser 
your  letter  that  I  rescieved  on  the  1 1  of  last  nomth 

8  His  girl  cousin  to  whom  the  previous  letter  was  written. 

9  The  U.  S.  S.  Ino,  a  clipper  ship  of  895  tons'  displacement,  left  New 
York  on  May  29,  1863,  "to  cruise  upon  the  equator  in  search  of  the  piratical 
vessels  Alabama  and  Florida."  After  covering  a  distance  of  nearly  fourteen 
thousand  miles,  she  returned  to  New  York  on  September  7  without  having 
met  up  with  them.     Ibid.,  ser.  1,  ii,  441 ;  ser.  2,  i,  108. 


560  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  QUARTERLY 

I  would  haved  rote  before  but  I  could  not  for  we  was 
bissey  giting  the  brandywine  from  fort  monroe  up  to 
norfork  and  on  the  16th  the  nansemond  came  down 
and  I  had  to  go  in  her  we  started  out  that  night 
for  beaufort  we  had  a  very  plesant  pasage  till  we 
got  of  beaufort  and  it  came  in  fogy  and  so  we  came  to 
an  anchor  that  night  and  in  the  morning  it  comenst 
to  blow  it  blew  so  hard  that  we  could  not  git  in 
over  the  bar  and  so  we  lade  there  till  about  3  oclock 
in  the  after  noon  when  we  had  to  git  under  way  for 
we  could  not  stay  there  eney  longer  for  it  was  bloing 
a  gale  of  wind  and  the  sea  was  was  coming  over  fore 
and  aft  and  so  we  had  to  put  to  sea  and  run  very  slow 
to  give  her  time  to  ride  the  sea  which  was  runing 
mountains  high  the  gale  continured  all  that  night 
till  morning  when  it  begun  to  lull  about  8  oclock  in 
the  morning  it  was  good  wether  again  and  we  shaped 
our  course  for  beaufort  and  got  in  there  in  the  after 
noon10  and  we  took  in  coal  and  went  down  to  wiliming- 
ton  on  the  blockade  we  had  very  fine  wether  thare 
we  stade  there  till  we  got  out  of  coal  and  then  we  came 
back  to  beaufort  whare  we  took  in  coal  again  and  was 
all  reddy  to  go  out  when  we  had  a  dispach  to  go  up  to 
a  place  caled  carline  citty  for  the  rebs  was  coming  to 
take  beaufort11  so  up  we  went  and  anchord  of 
brest  of  the  town  and  towards  night  there  was  hevy 
firing  about  4  miles  of  we  could  see  the  smoak 
plaine  from  whar  we  lay  the  firing  seased  about 
dark  we  was  expecting  them  to  come  every  minet 
we  was  all  reddy  for  them  they  had  drove  our 
pickets  in  and  we  new  nothing  about  it  and  there  we 
was  and  the  rebs  was  on  the  beach  before  we  new 

10  The  official  report  in  ibid.,  ser.  1,  ix,  385,  is  less  exciting. 

11  The  official  accounts  of  this  righting  appear  in  ibid.,  ser.  1,  ix,  455-456, 
466-467,  478. 


MEMORANDA  AND  DOCUMENTS  561 

Enny  thing  about  it  and  about  12  that  night  a  dispach 
came  for  us  to  retreat  down  the  river  and  we  did  so 
in  turning  around  we  run  aground  and  there  we  was 
fast  aground  and  they  migint  [sic  ]  have  bloud  us  out 
of  water  if  they  had  ben  amine  to  for  it  was  some  time 
before  we  could  git  off  we  went  down  towards 
beaufort  in  the  morning  evry  thing  seemed  to  be 
all  quiet  and  so  to  day  we  have  gorn  up  the  river  again 
whar  we  was  before  I  guess  that  they  have  gorn 
back  again  I  wish  that  we  would  stay  here  till 
spring  for  I  like  it  better  than  on  the  blockade  for  we 
dont  have  much  to  do  excuse  me  for  not  riting 
before  I  have  not  had  a  letter  from  jim  yet 
when  you  rite  to  jim  give  him  my  directions  for  I 
dont  think  that  he  got  my  letter  for  I  have  rote  two 
letters  to  him  and  I  have  not  got  an  anser  yet  you 
can  rite  enny  time  that  you  are  amind  to  and  I  shall 
get  them  no  matter  whar  I  am  so  that  the  vesels 
name  is  on  them  tell  howard  that  he  must  rite 
rite  when  ever  you  have  a  mind  to 

U.  S.  Steamer.  Nansemond. 
Beaufort  N  C 

April    10th    1864 

Cousin 12         I  now  take  my  pen  in  hand  to  rite 

you  a  few  lines  to  let  you  no  that  I  am  still  in  the  land 
of  the  living  I  am  well  and  hope  these  few  lines 
will  find  you  the  same.  it  is  Sunday  and  we  are 
laying  in  beaufort  harbor  we  came  in  last  night 
we  shall  probly  lay  here  ten  days  to  pach  the  boilar 
for  it  is  leaking  very  badly.  it  is  very  near  plaid 
out  we  shal  go  home  about  the  first  of  may  I 
think  I  dont  expect  to  go  home  in  her  I  shall 
get  transfered  to  a  nother  boat  if  I  can.         we  towed 

12  This  letter  and  the  following  two  are  addressed  to  a  male  cousin. 


562     THE  NEW  ENGLAND  QUARTERLY 

a  slop  [sloop?]  from  the  blockade  that  was  took  of 
nassau  the  20  of  march.  She  started  for  boston  she 
got  to  the  nothad  [northward]  of  cape  hatras  twise 
and  was  blown  of  again  she  was  out  in  three  gailes 
and  in  the  last  one  they  lost  all  their  sailes  and  there 
they  was  at  the  mirsey  of  the  wind  and  wave  drifting 
wharever  the  wind  mint  blow  them  they  drifted 
till  she  got  with  in  two  [miles?]  of  the  mouth  of  the 
river  that  goes  up  to  wilimington  it  was  in  the 
night  or  we  would  have  seen  her  it  was  dark  and 
one  of  our  boats  was  in  pretty  clost  to  the  fort  and 
saw  her  and  that  it  was  a  blockade  runner  and  took 
her  and  that  she  had  ben  taken  before  we  have 
had  very  bad  wether  through  march  but  the  wether  is 
geting  better  now  I  have  had  two  fights  latly  one 
with  the  quarter  gunner  and  I  had  one  with  Engineers 
yoman  this  morning  and  I  didnot  get  whiped  eather 
time  the  first  one  I  just  puntch  till  he  was  glad  to 
give  it  up  the  other  one  his  friends  took  his  part 
or  I  would  have  nocked  seven  bels  out  of  him         I 

tell  you  I  am  rate  on  the  mussel         theys 

git  mistaken  when  [they  ]  think  of  whiping  me  not 
that  I  am  braging  i  never  interfear  with  enney 
one  except  they  comense  it  most  all  of  the  fellows 
are  ashore  to  day  I  would  not  for  there  is  nobody 
but  nigars  ashore  here  beaufort  is  a  great  old 
place  new  york  cant  hold  a  candel  to  this  place  I 
tell  you  the  houses  are  twice  as  thick  as  they  are 
in  new  york  I  came  neer  giting  lost  there  one  time 
wall  to  tell  you  the  troth  there  is  about  seven  acers  of 
land  between  everys  house  there  is  another  place 
rate  opersit  call  morehead  citty  that  is  worser  still 
and  another  citty  it  has  two  dweling  houses  and  about 
three  niger  shanties  and  a  few  sheads  I  believe  that 
the  citty  is  inhabited  by  one  old  niger  woman         this 


MEMORANDA  AND  DOCUMENTS  563 

place  is  caled  careline  citty  I  expect  there  will  be  a 
draft  down  in  maine  and  you  must  keep  the  dores  and 
winders  shet  to  keep  out  the  draft  I  want  you  to 
send  me  some  papers  that  is  if  you  are  amind  to 
send  enney  kind  that  you  are  amind  to  I  dont 
care  what  I  expect  that  jim  will  be  at  home  before 
long  tell  him  to  rite  as  soon  as  he  does  if  you 
think  there  is  enny  danger  by  posting  your  letters  at 

dont  do  it         tell 13  that  I  got  her  letter 

and  would  like  to  anser  it  but  I  guss  that  I  wont 
she  said  that  you  and  Howard  were  going  to  build 
a  stable  I  dont  see  whare  you  are  going  to  poot 
it  I  expect  things  will  look  odd  when  I  come  back 
I  suppose  you  are  framing  it  now  I  can  Immagen 
how  things  is  I  wish  that  I  was  going  to  take  tea 
with  you  to  night  I  think  that  I  would  have 
something  better  than  hot  watter  and  spoons  for 
supper  that  all  we  get  for  one  I  am  neer 
starved  if  I  get  much  thinner  it  will  take  two  of 
us  to  make  one  shader  how  are  you  hard  tack  give 
my  love  to  all  enquiring  friends  and  especely  the 
pretty  girls  if  there  is  enney  there  is  not  meny 
about  there  that  noes  me  if  you  ever  find  this  out 
you  must  rite  I  would  like  to  get  a  letter  every 
maill  if  I  could  it  makes  the  time  pass  so  much 
smother  I  am  so  hungry  that  I  cant  rite  much 
more  I  dont  expect  that  you  can  read  half  what 
i  have  rote  so  I  will  belay  or  come  to  an  anchor  so 
good  by  I  hope  that  you  will  excuse  ill  composed 
letter 

U   S   Steamer   Nansemond 

May   15th   1864. 

Cousin I  receved  your  letter  and  was  glad 

to  hear  from  you        we  are  in  beaufort  agane         we 

13  His  girl  cousin  and  the  recipient's  sister. 


564     THE  NEW  ENGLAND  QUARTERLY 

came  in  five  days  ago  we  did  not  go  to  the  blockade 
as  soon  as  we  expected  to  for  we  had  to  go  up  bogue 
sounds  becaus  they  expeted  that  the  rebs  was  coming 
to  take  this  place  we  stayed  up  there  a  spell  and 
then  went  on  the  blockade  we  stayed  there  a 
spell  without  enney  thing  ocuring  worth  menshioning 
till  the  other  night  we  had  a  little  confab  with  the 
rebble  ram  we  was  lying  on  the  bar  as  usual  when 
the  hawkwar  [Howquah]  a  gun  boat  saw  us  and  mistook 
us  for  a  blockade  runner  which  is  often  the  case  and 
let  drive  at  us  and  just  cleared  our  pilot  house  and 
bursted  rate  along  side  and  then  we  signlised  to  her 
and  found  that  it  was  one  of  our  boats  it  was 
rather  dark  and  we  could  not  see  a  great  wayes.  in 
about  two  hours  after  that  we  saw  a  vessel  pretty 
clost  to  us  we  didnot  no  [whether  it  was  one  ]  of  our 
boats  or  not  or  whether  it  was  a  blockade  runner  or 
not  we  could  not  tell  we  sigenlised  to  her  and 
she  woud  not  ancer  us  pretty  soon  she  showed  a 
red  lite  and  made  towards  us  we  saw  then  what 
she  was  we  knew  it  was  usles  to  stand  and  fight 
her  so  we  fired  a  couple  shots  at  her  and  then  turned 
tale  and  was  soon  out  of  site  of  her  in  the  dark  in 
the  morning  we  had  it  again  [st]  us  and  the  hawkwar 
none  of  the  other  boats  would  come  near  the 
hawkwar  got  a  shot  through  her  smoak  stack  and  the 
ram  went  in  again  and  hasent  ben  out  again  as  I  no 
of  and  I  hope  she  wont  the  gatersburg  [Gettysburg] 
came  in  here  yesterday  she  is  the  one  that  we 
helped  to  take  her  mame  was  margret  and  jessey 
she  is  a  splended  vessel  of  about  500tons  14  I  got  one 
paper  the  maine  farmer  we  have  got  news  that 
grant  has  got  Petersburg  and  is  going  into  richmond 
I  hope  it  is  so         you  said  you  wer  going  to  begin  to 

14  Her  tonnage  was  950.     Ibid.,  ser.  2,  i,  95. 


MEMORANDA  AND  DOCUMENTS  565 

plant  in  about  a  weak  if  so  you  have  comensed 
before  now  I  wish  that  I  was  with  you  I  long 
to  be  my  own  master  again  to  go  whare  I  like  and  to 
do  as  I  like  I  dont  like  to  be  a  slave  nor  I  never 
will  be  a  gain  this  is  worse  than  slavery  a  blody 
site  if  I  had  my  way  I  would  cut  every  nigers 
throt  in  the  united  states  they  think  more  of  a 
niger  on  this  boat  than  they  do  of  a  white  man  I 
dont  supose  you  beleave  that  do  you         they  even 

poot   them   over    white    men  dont    never 

speak  in  favor  of  a  moke  if  you  knew  as  much 
about  them  as  I  do  you  would  not  we  hant  going 
home  so  much  as  we  was  and  I  hope  that  she  wont 
go  home  till  the  first  of  July  or  the  first  of  august 
ask  jim  what  the  reason  he  dont  rite  I  supose 
there  is  good  wages  this  summer  I  no  if  i  was  out 
of  this  I  could  git  my  cool  $40  a  month  to  go  fireman 
on  some  vessel  that  so  but  then  a  man  erns  it  for 
it  is  hard  hot  work  I  will  tell  you  how  it  feels  in 
the  fire  room  of  a  hot  day  you  can  immagen  how 
a  crab  would  feal  in  a  pot  of  hot  watter  thats  the 
way  I  feal  It  is  about  time  that  I  came  to  an 
anchor  I  guess  I  hope  that  uncle  dudley  will 
excuse  these  few  lines  If  I  could  rite  as  well  as  you 
I  would  not  call  old  abe  my  uncle  give  my  best 
respects  to  all         rite  as  soon  as  you  get  this 

Norfork.  V.  A. 

July  the  6th  [1864] 

Cousin I  will  try  and  anser  your  letter         I 

am  well  and  hope  you  are  the  same  we  are  now 
laying  at  gosport  navy  yard  we  shall  lay  here  10 
dayes  and  prehaps  longer  they  wont  let  us  go  to 
baltimore  where  we  expected  to  go  when  we  started 
they  think  that  she  can  stand  it  a  while  longer  altho 


566     THE  NEW  ENGLAND  QUARTERLY 

she  has  a  new  boiler  in  baltimore  wating  for  her  we 
cant  carry  onley  15  lbs  of  steam  for  the  boiler  is  very 
weak  we  have  patched  it  so  much  that  it  is  nearly 
all  patches  I  supose  you  are  haying  by  this  time 
I  dreamed  that  I  was  to  your  house  last  [night?] 
thort  that  you  was  haying  and  that  you  was  plaid  out 
I  hope  it  is  not  so.  you  asked  me  when  my  time  was 
out  I  will  tell  you  I  have  48  dayes  from  to 
day  and  I  shant  be  sorrey  when  that  has  gorn  I 
am  going  on  a  regular  tare  when  my  time  is  up  I 
have  got  150  green  backs  do  me  now  do  you 
mind  that  when  the  boat  gave  a  role  you  said  that 
jim  was  going  to  invade  the  draft  bulley  for 
him  I  hope  you  wont  get  drafted  if  you  no 
whare  jim  has  gorn  let  us  know  you  said  that 
Eunice  was  marid  I  am  glad  of  it  you  must 
rite  and  tell  me  who  she  is  spliced  to  and  whare  he 
lives  and  what  he  does  for  a  living  tell  us  what 
kind  of  a  time  you  had  on  the  4.  I  was  coming 
around  around  Hatters  about  that  time  I  did  not 
forget  the  time  we  had  6  monts  ago.  by  they  way 
I  will  excuse  that  half  sheat  of  paper  if  you  wont  do  so 
enney  more.  the  time  that  the  ram  came  out  we 
kiled  6  mem  on  bord  of  her  the  second  shot  we 
fired  went  in  her  port  hole  it  was  us  for  we  was 
all  that  fired  at  her  that  night  the  howqua  fired 
at  her  in  the  morning  she  is  destroid  now  if 
the  cales  [Calais?]  youth  had  ben  there  she  never 
would  have  gorn  in  again  you  dont  know  who  I 
mean  it  is  capain  Cushon  I  suppose  you  have  hurd 
of  him  he  is  a  brick  we  have  ben  on  an  expedi- 
tion sence  I  rote  last  up  to  a  place  cald  sneaze  ferry 
about  8  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  we  had 
a  detachment  of  the  9  vt  umder  captain  kelley  the 
luckest  man  in  the  service  for  that  kind  of  h  bisnes 


MEMORANDA  AND  DOCUMENTS  567 

we  captured  their  pickets  and  held  the  ferry  til  our 
caverly  from  neerburn  [Newbern]  made  a  rade  up 
some  whare  I  dont  no  whare  but  when  they  came 
back  they  made  a  mistake  and  fired  in  to  our  men  at 
the  ferrey  and  the  vermonters  gave  them  fits  you 
see  it  in  the  papers  I  will  bid  you  good  by  for 
this  time   .... 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  Petty  Papers.  Some  unpublished  writings  of  Sir  William 
Petty  from  the  Bowood  Papers.  Edited  by  the  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne.  2  vols.  (Boston  and  New  York:  Houghton 
Mifflin  Company.  1927.  Pp.  lv,  585.  $12.00.) 
Of  all  the  remarkable  figures  of  the  "great  century,"  that  is 
to  say  the  seventeenth,  none  is  more  extraordinary  than  Sir 
William  Petty.  There  was  not,  according  to  Evelyn,  "a  better 
Latin  poet  living,  when  he  gives  himself  to  that  diversion;  nor 
is  his  excellence  less  in  Council  and  prudent  matters  of  state 
....  nor  in  the  whole  world  his  equal  for  a  superintendent 
of  manufacture  and  improvement  of  trade,  or  to  govern  a 
plantation.  If  I  were  a  Prince  I  should  make  him  my  second 
councellor  at  least."  "Above  all,"  wrote  Pepys,  of  a  brilliant 
company  in  which  he  once  found  himself,  "I  do  value  Sir  William . 
Petty;"  and  the  editor  of  these  papers  puts  Aubrey's  estimate  of 
him,  "a  person  of  an  admirable  inventive  head  and  practical 
parts"  at  the  beginning  of  his  book.  In  the  language  of  his 
century,  Petty  was  pre-eminently  an  "ingenious  man."  He 
made  the  best  survey  of  Ireland;  he  accomplished  the  impos- 
sible task  of  dividing  her  lands  among  their  many  claimants 
in  the  Cromwellian  period;  he  invented  a  variety  of  machines; 
he  conceived  the  idea  which  bore  fruit  in  the  Royal  Society; 
he  was  a  doctor,  a  professor,  a  valued  royal  councillor,  a  good 
man  of  business,  and  the  father  of  what  used  to  be  called  politi- 
cal economy,  a  statistician,  a  tax  expert,  and  an  eminent  eco- 
nomic theorist;  and  so  good  a  fellow  and  so  delightful  a  compan- 
ion that  Charles  II  not  merely  forgave  him  for  his  attachment 
to  the  Commonwealth  but  knighted  him  and  would  have  made 
him  a  privy  councillor  had  it  not  been  for  the  collapse  of  Tem- 
ple's plan  for  the  reorganization  of  the  Council. 

He  was  a  remarkable  man,  for,  largely  devoid  of  those  arts  by 
which  shrewder  and  more  cunning  individuals  rise  in  the  world, 
with  or  without  merit,  he  owed  his  place  in  life  to  one  of  the 

568 


DONORS  TO 
THE  NEW  ENGLAND  QUARTERLY 


Walter  Cabot  Baylies 
Frank  B.  Bemis 
Clarence  Winthrop  Bowen 
Heman  M.  Burr 
Henry  W.  Cunningham 
William  B.  H.  Dowse 
William  C.  Endicott 
Worthington  C.  Ford 
Francis  Russell  Hart 
Gardner  Jackson 
Nathaniel  T.  Kidder 
Katherine  Loring 
William  Caleb  Loring 
Katharine  Ludington 


William  Gwinn  Mather 
Albert  Matthews 
Percival  Merritt 
J.  Pdsrpont  Morgan 
Ray  Morris 
Dwight  W.  Morrow 
Grenville  H.  Norcross 
Stephen  W.  Phelleps 
George  D.  Pratt 
Charles  S.  Rackemann 
Henry  D.  Sharpe 
James  B.  Wilbur 
Frederic  Winthrop 
John  Woodbury 


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I 


